The howler monkeys of the genus Alouatta are among the largest and most widespread of new world monkeys and are famed for their loud vocalizations, among the loudest of all terrestrial animals. With the aid of an enlarged hyoid bone the guttural howls of these monkeys can be heard up to 3 miles (4.8 km) away. Males vocalize to protect their territories and mostly howl at dawn and dusk but can be heard throughout the day. Today we’re looking at the 2017 Safari howler monkey, sculpted by Doug Watson. It is one of only four howler monkey figures cataloged on Toy Animal Wiki.
Safari only advertises this figure as belonging to the Alouatta genus but there are about 15 described species of howler monkey. Toy Animal Wiki doesn’t attempt to identify the species either, so the first order of the day is to identify this monkey. Being entirely black rules out most species and leaves us with the black howler (A. caraya) and the Yucatán black howler (A. pigra). Since adult male Yucatán black howlers develop a white scrotum, and this figure has a gray one, I’m identifying it as a black howler.
EDIT: A discussion about scrotum color in the comments section below led me to ask Doug Watson directly what species this toy represents. He confirmed my identification, it is A. caraya.
The black howler is also known as the black-and-gold howler, since females and immature males are golden colored. The black howler can be found in central South American rainforests. Black howlers are mostly folivorous, meaning they eat leaves. Up to 76% of their diet is made up of leaves and the rest is made up of fruit, buds, and flowers.
Black howlers reach 16.5-21.7” (41.91-55.11 cm) in length, not counting the tail, which adds an additional 20.9-25.6” (53-65 cm). Males are larger than females and can weigh up to 18 lbs. (8.16 kg). The Safari figure has a total length of 5” (12.7 cm) and a head-and-body length of 2.75” (6.9 cm). Using head-and-body length the figure comes out to be 1/6-1/7.8 in scale. The figure is presented braced on all fours and as if it were letting out its namesake howl.
The figure is sculpted with a large, rounded head, robust limbs, long shaggy hair, and with its prehensile tail curled at the tip. The level of fine detail is exceptional with much attention paid to the facial features. The lips on the open mouth are slightly curled back and the rounded nostrils are deep and flared. The hair on the head parts down the middle with the ears poking out, complete with folds and openings. A bare-skinned inflated throat sack can be seen on the underside.
The shaggy hair runs down over the back and sides and then comes together to form a peak along the underside. The bottoms of the hands and feet are bare, as is the scrotum that indicates that the figure represents a male. The hair is painted black while the bare skinned portions are gray. The inside of the mouth is pink, and the eyes are orange with black pupils and a lifelike sheen painted over them. The pupils are slightly misaligned but that’s to be expected and it’s not too bad or noticeable in this instance.
The Safari Ltd. howler monkey is one of my favorite monkey figures and one that I’ve been keen to acquire and review for some time. It’s surprising that there aren’t more howler monkey figures out there and I hope that Safari tackles more howler species in the future, a gold colored female to compliment this figure would be nice too. This figure is currently in production and retails for about $7.00.
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I would actually argue this is the Yucatan howler. I did a deep dive into this when this came up in my daily Museum posts and from what I can tell, male A. caraya have a reddish scrotum, well illustrated in the 2020 Illustrated Checklist of Mammals of the World by Burgin et al., while A. pigra can be white to pale gray, as illustrated in this Safari figure.
Interesting. Although I did notice that you referred to this figure as A. caraya in your Primate TOOB review. I’ll have to look more into this. Might be best to just ask Doug Watson. I suspect that it’s still supposed to be A. caraya due to its familiarity. I doubt Safari was too concerned with scrotum color. Either way, I might end up editing the review.
Ah thanks. The Primates TOOB was reviewed quite a while before I reviewed the WS figure for my Museum post. I’ll go back and look at my TOOB review and may edit accordingly. I initially thought it was a Black Howler, too; it wasn’t until I looked deeper into it for the Museum post that I learned the intricacies separating them.
Yeah, the Wikipedia entries on howler monkeys weren’t much help, only pointing out the scrotum color of A. pigra. Likewise, my copy of A Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates only mentions the scrotum color of A. pigra. No matter though, Doug Watson confirmed via private message that the species is meant to be A. caraya.
Interesting, thanks. I wonder if there was a change in paint, or miscommunication, or one or other parties didn’t know the subtilties.
I am keeping it as A. pigra in my collection, however, since Safari never marketed it specifically and the morphology better supports A. pigra. I have done some more research since earlier and have found more references citing A. caraya has a red-rust scrotum.
Using scrotal color to identify a toy monkey…it sounds…well…nuts! 😎
Haha, yeah, my Google image searches would seem questionable out of context! I’m gonna guess that “parties didn’t know the subtilties” is the explanation here. It’s not like monkey scrotum color is common knowledge. I was torn between the two species until I read “white scrotum” and that was sufficient enough for me. I learned a bit writing this one, which is part of why I enjoy doing these reviews.